Ieuan Belshaw’s latest video.
“Last November I broke my ankle and so I missed all the awesome weather from the beginning of winter but the rain came back after the snow which gave us all some pretty neat melt water boating. Here’s a few rivers we did over that time! Enjoy…”
So it´s now almost two years that i use my Double D Drysuit and i think i can give a well founded review.
First i have to say, and for sure that´s the most important point, the suit is dry as on the first day. All seams are faultless and the seam tapes are without any damages. They didn´t get loose or things like that. The material seems to be strong. I just got two little wholes at the ass but i think that would have happended two any other suit too. I was gliding down a pretty rough and stony cliff. I glued some Aquasure over them and now the suit is fine again.
Since i use the Double D, i never had cold feet again because of the booties. The reinforced material did a good job because even the booties are still dry. When you think of the hard work they have to do this is a good proof.
A good thing is the neopren collar at the hip. You can wear the top oft he suit open without any annoying sliding.
I love the zippers of the suit. In comparison to other zips, it is so easy to handle. It´s no problem to open or close it without help, even when the zipper is on the back.
The Entrant shell material does a good job in my opinion. Even when the breathability is a little bit lower after two years the suit is definitly no sauna. Maybe washing the suit would be a good idea after the long use now, to wash out all the sweat and dirt to get some breathability back.
So if you would ask me, if i could recommend the suit to my best friend, i would definitly say yes without any doubts. And believe me i don´t say that just because i´m a team member of IR.When you´re thinking of buying a new suit you should have an eye on the new Arch Rival and Supermodel Suits. I´m sure you will not regret. The DD was fantastic and i think both of the new ones will even better
short video of the last two weekends in beautiful Ticino Valley…
short video of the first creeking session this year!
This autumn i had the best trip to the famous Ötz Valley ever. Even when i didn´t have the chance to participate at the Sick Line Race it was worse to drive 600km each way to the Austrian alps. The weather was so perfect with blue skys and temperatures like in summer time. We paddled Wellerbrücken, Heilig-Kreutz and the middle Section of Ötz river and had great times on the water.
I will put more photos on the blog in the next days.
Greets Timo
After a few years of not being able to get away, I finally got my wish to go to the mecca of whitewater that is Norway. I spent an amazing month touring the country with Dan Heyworth, Martin Hagan and Callum Strong.
Coming from a country where the paddling is so rain dependent, being able to find a grade 4/5 river under every second bridge was amazing! Usually if I got two days in a row of this level of paddling it would be nothing short of a miracle! Days could be as chilled out or as action packed as we liked. I really felt as if my boating came on lots on this trip, especially bigger volume boating (something not really found in the UK much).
Our trip was based around following the glacial melt and 4 of the paddling festivals; Voss, Valldal, Sjoa and the brand new Dagali festival. We were also lucky to find the Telemark region of the country going off near the end of July after a few big storms.
This trip has been by far my favourite so far, not just for the paddling. The paddling festivals give Norwegian paddling trips such a great social scene and I don’t think I’ve ever made so many friends and contacts in such a short space of time. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep in touch with lots of the great people I got to meet.
Close to the end of my trip I managed to dislocate my shoulder after an awkward landing on the Moneydrop of the Strondelvi river near Voss. As dislocations go, it wasn’t that bad, so I consider myself quite lucky. I’m hoping I don’t have too much time out the boat and I’ll be working hard on my physio to ensure I have a speedy recovery. I’ve already managed a bit of easy flatwater paddling so things are looking good!
After my accident I spent my time socializing, driving shuttles, watching movies and generally just relaxing. I couldn’t dream of a better place to do all of this but still obviously not quite as good as paddling.
All my new IR stuff performed great and I can’t say enough good things about it all. The quality of the gear really shows!
Norway is a country full of potential for paddling and there’s no surprise that so many people from all over the world make the annual pilgrimage. I’m 100% sure I’ll be back in Norway. I need to show that Moneydrop who’s boss. For anyone planning a Norway trip that’s wondering about logistics and costs, I’ve got a write up of mine here. I had quite an interesting trip in terms of getting about on freight ferries, trains and planes. I also added some tips and things I would take on board when I go back. I hope it can be of some use to an enthusiastic paddler looking to get out to Norway next year.
Look out for my video of the trip soon!
- Mark
